LOOKING BOTH WAYS

LOOKING BOTH WAYS KEEW OREZ TO WEEK ONE

Have mercy football gods! Looking back to WEEK ZERO there were some magical ballgames that matched highly ranked teams against each other. That means a few sore muscles and bruises and a bruised ego to add insult to injury.

Hico’s Eight Annual Six-Man Super Saturday once again provided a full day of action. Strawn defeated Calvert to start off the day’s action. As you and I have seen before, a game between two ranked teams can turn a shade of…..ugly. That is not always the case. More times than not when you get two elite teams together the fans are treated to something special.

Speaking of fans, there we were, my brother from Houston, my son from Waco, along with a longtime friend of mine from Frisco, and myself. We were all sitting under the famed “big oak tree” at the South end of Tiger Stadium when we heard a terrible snap. What was it? Was the tree falling? Did someone break their ankle or leg? No, it was none of those things. What we heard snap was Garden City’s 29 game winning streak when the Bearkats lost to the Matadors of Motley County in overtime by the score of 50-44. BTW, my brother had only seen one Six-Man contest before this one, the Strawn Calvert game. I supposed I may have ruined him for life. That’s ok. What you must understand is the fact he is nearly ten years older than me and he put me through lots of “stuff” when I was a kid. Karma! The last time Garden City had tasted defeat was on the very same field here in Hico at the Sixth Annual Six-Man Super Saturday.

Man they got the next game on the card started almost immediately. The folks in Hico learned their lesson all the way back to the first Classic they hosted. There was a 45 point victory ending a game that year and it was something like three hours before the next game started. It was a good game but lots of people didn’t hang around to watch it. Warning to future participants at Hico, the first game of the day has a “hard” start time. All other games start immediately at the conclusion of the previous game. If you are gonna play in Hico you had better be ready to go. Now, back to the third game of the day. Can I just say WOW?!!! Throckmorton and Valley played to a 65 to 62 score with Throckmorton taking the win.

Games four and five found Ira defeating the perennial power house Follett Panthers 69 to 24 after a fairly close first half and Walnut Springs defeating Rising Star in a tight one 44-24. Coach Toby Goodwin took a moment to visit with me as the Ira Bulldogs came back on the field to start the second half of their game with Follett. Exactly what he told me will remain a private conversation between him and me but the jest of the conversation was “we better start playing football or……..anyway they did just that.

Congratulations to all the great people in Hico that make Six-Man Super Saturday a FANTABOLUS event every year. Same to the boys who played their hearts out whether they won or lost. More congratulations go out to the fans that braved the unforgiving heat to watch one game or all five. It is the best $10.00 you will spend all year.

There was action elsewhere besides in Hico. I would be remiss if I did not mention a great game that took place 300 or so miles west of Hico in McCamey at their Second Annual Kick Off classic. Rankin, in the last game of the day took down Borden County by the score of 38 to 26.

Also, in Zephyr, the Richland Springs Coyotes took down a talented Avalon squad 66 to 20. One game in WEEK ZERO does not win you a State Championship. I have to say though that Richland Springs would appear to be on their way to repeating as D2 Champions. I realize there are lots of football games to be played before that December 10th game in Abilene. Just saying.

Looking forward to WEEK ONE, there will again be some great games to watch although they will be spread out just a tad more than WEEK ZERO. Game of the week honors could go to the Jonesboro and Strawn game. That game I believe is in Strawn. The Sterling City and Garden City game will also contend as GOTW. I am thinking that game is in Garden City. I am also intrigued by the Calvert and Aquilla game in Aquilla. Just for good measure one might consider Ira and Knox City.

Next week there will be tales to tell as we look back at KEEW ENO and forward to WEEK TWO. Be very careful what you ask for BECAUSE you might just wind up getting it.

YOU know WHO I am talking to and what I am talking about.

Each of you could be doing lots of things besides reading my blog.
I truly THANK YOU for your time.

Don Hardin
donhardin1@gmail.com